The Key
by Hunneybee
Summary: A new weapon has surfaced, but the girl doesn't even know her destiny yet! The titans have to race against Time to find her, and if they do, it will be a shock to one of the team members, for this girl has a very special connection with him...
1. Prologue

Sooo…. This is a new fic for me, yeah I know, I haven't finished with the songs one first, but this kinda just came to me! Hmmm it will be my first actual story so again, go easy on me cuz I'm just beginning to get into the wadding pool of this great big ocean!!!

DISCLAIMER: Don't own, never have never will, I only own my O.C., who I think is absolutely fabulous if I do say so myself:p

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"Why? Why do those pesky brats thwart me at every turn?" Cronus snarled his anger coursing through his body like molten lava.

He conjured up a picture of the seven teens and the hate bubbling beneath the surface erupted, he telepathically lifted boulders and anything that was in reach really and started to hurl the objects across the room letting the imitations of the Titans fall to the ground bloodied, with broken and oddly twisted limbs, but as his anger and frustration cooled and satisfaction kicked in the apparitions shimmered and dissolved into nothingness **(AN/ is that even a word??!!!)** and Cronus was reminded that they were not the real thing.

He stifled another outburst of anger and as he attempted to calm himself he had a sudden feeling, which gave him a pause.

"No, it couldn't be! Why I haven't felt that in a few millennia!" He walked over to his 'looking pool' and waved a hand across the still water trying to see if what he felt had in fact been real, but he could only get a very hazy picture of a mortal's form, he couldn't even tell if it was male or female.

"AGNON!" He barked sending the bumbling giant into a frantic run and causing him to trip over his own two feet. Cronus rolled his eyes and sighed as it took the giant twice as long to reach him. "I want you to escort the Oracle back here, invite him over for a little 'chat', and make sure it's an offer that he can't refuse."

The God of Time's red eyes burned with malice as Agnon and a few of his cohorts went and did Cronus's bidding.

A while later there was a commotion at the front of the cold hallway leading to the power hungry God's lair.

"Ah Oracle, so good of you to accept my invitation!" Cronus said in a false welcoming voice, taking in the sight of the Oracle being led the base of his throne.

The Oracle sneered up at Cronus "Well, with such a pleasant invitation, I couldn't decline, now could I?"

"Hmmm, yes well you see, I have rather an urgent matter that needs attending, and you are the only one that can help me" Cronus said almost banteringly with the Oracle.

The Oracle smirked "I know exactly what you want to know Cronus, and the answer is yes, the Key has resurfaced after all these millennia" The God of Time crowed in delight his mind already running rampant with all the possibilities of finally killing Hera's snivelling brats off once and for all

"So, where does the Great One reside? Back on Mt. Olympus with my children? Never mind, I shall steal the God right out from under their noses, and they will never be any the wiser!"

"AHEM!" The Oracle cleared his throat to get Cronus's attention "Actually the Key resides somewhere here, not on Mt. Olympus…" Cronus stared with astonishment at the old prophet "…and the Key is not an immortal, but a human, one who does not even know of its great destiny yet"

Cronus could hardly believe what the withered old man was telling him; in fact he seemed absolutely dumfounded.

"So, Oracle, what sex is this _mortal_?" He sneered the word as if it left a distasteful aftermath in his mouth. "And better yet, where does this mortal reside? And when will they start learning about their powers?"

The Oracle sighed, his unhappiness with telling Cronus all that he had seen showing through his body language. "I do not know whether the Key is male or female, nor do I know the exact locations of where the mortal resides, but it has an incredibly strong connection to one of the seven Chosen Ones, and the powers that this mortal has, I-I do not know when they will reveal themselves." The Oracle stumbled slightly over his words at the end of his speech, but Cronus was too busy gloating to realise what had just happened.

"Agnon, you and your brothers escort our esteemed guest back to his newspaper stand" Cronus gave an imperious command and turned to glance once again at the smoky figure in the reflecting pool once again, tasting victory over Jay and his little group of 'heroes'.

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"NOOOO!!!" The girl sat bolt upright in her bed, gasping and sobbing quietly as her dream flooded her mind. She sat in her silent room for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room, and once that had happened she skimmed the room quickly, searching for glowing red eyes that held so much malice and evil in them.

She gave a sigh of relief as she noted that everything in her messy bedroom was as it had been before she had gone to bed the night before, and the house was silent, not even an animal stirred.

The tiny brunette got out of her bed and padded softly across the room, her footsteps virtually silent as she made her way to her computer. She flipped the machine on and quickly went online to check if there were any e-mails for her.

As she grumbled with disappointment that there was no answering e-mail to the last one she had sent she suddenly got an IM message. She glanced at it and her face lit up with excitement and joy when she saw who it was from.

_FastBoy-'Hey sweeting, what in the world are u doing up so late?!?'_

The girl grinned as she realised he STILL hadn't changed his online name.

_CheerGirl-'Hey!!! Nuthing much, just had a bad dream 'n culdn't go back to sleep u?' _

_FastBoy-'Mmmmm culd say the same! ;)_

_CheerGirl-'Y didn't u reply to my msg:(__'_

_FastBoy-'Sry hon, only checked my e-mails now:)__'_

_CheerGirl-'Oh 'k….'_

_FstBoy-'Sumthing da matter?'_

_CheerGirl-'No!'_

_FastBoy-''K tell me wat it is! It's not HER again is it:('_

_CheerGirl-'Actually, she's been pretty chilled these couple of weeks, but that's gonna change, it always does! HA Sad Smile Wish u were still here with me sumtimes!'_

_FastBoy-'Yeah, I'm missing u loads too! So how is everything?'_

_CheerGirl-'All good, hmmm really tired yawn gonna call it a night 'k bro? Love u g'night ;P__'_

_CheerGirl has now logged off._

The girl gave a contented smile, talking to her older brother did that to her. She shut down the computer and climbed back into bed, and closing her eyes, she was not disturbed again by glowing red eyes.

The boy sighed as he logged off his computer his mind still dwelling on his younger sister and the most likely reason she couldn't sleep again.

He climbed back into his bed careful not to make too much noise and wake the rest of the dorm up, and he scrunched his pillow tightly under his head as he lay thinking about his latest dream that woke him up, the vision coming to him so clearly, it was almost as if she was standing in his room, begging him to kiss her full pink lips and take her right then and there.

He rolled over and burrowed his head into the pillow and let out a frustrated groan. Why? Why did this have to constantly happen to him? He mussed up his purple hair that he usually wore in a Mohawk style and just let the fact wash over him that it was another sleepless night for him.

But close to two in the morning the exhausted teen drifted off to slumber land, not knowing that the age old saying of 'evil never sleeps' was being put into use that very night, and that Cronus was slowly getting closer to finding out who the Key really was….

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Hee hee hee, so what did all of you think?

Okay I also know that it's a bit short, but it's kinda a teaser, like a prequel!!!

Anyway, tell me what you think of this new story, and if you have any suggestions on how I can improve my story writing ways, just tell me how in the reviews!!

So just remember that this is my first actually story, that has like chapters and everything!!! So please, please, please tell me if anything is confusing, or if you can't follow the story line! ;)

Luv ya all Hunney


	2. Chapter 1

Hi! Thanks to everyone for telling me about the laws and stuff like that in America and Canada…

Okay, to everyone who reviewed my first chapter… you guys are all so awesome….hands out cookies (",)

**WARNING:** Sooo… uh there will be swearing, drinking, partying and sex in this fic…. uh if anyone is averse to any of this, I am terribly sorry, but think of something before telling me I corrupt the characters… they are all teenagers, their ages' ranging from about 16-18 (or so we are lead to believe), right? And what do most teenagers that age think about? Drinking, Sex and Partying (lol I should know… I'm at that stage! ;P) So from my perspective, I'm just putting these guys into more flesh and blood roles of the average teen, not that they are average, by any standards!!!

Okay I have all of that off of my chest!!!

**DISCLAIMER:** DO NOT OWN…. so don't sue! lol I only own my O.C.'s…. sooo now that I'm absolutely depressed at the thought of not owning CoTT, we can get on with the story!

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Soft muted noises drifted into the young girl's bedroom and woke her up gently. She opened her light blue eyes and glanced around the bedroom, wondering at what dream she had had, for she couldn't recall, all she remembered was seeing a blur of red and a flash of orange, and her brother fighting off some weird looking thing…

Amelia yawned and slowly climbed out of bed, her body feeling unusually sluggish. It had been a week since that disturbing dream of those glowing red eyes, yet she could still feel their weight, almost as if the eyes could see her.

The teen shook her head to get rid of the ridiculous notion of red eyes following her around. "Oh man, Mel, you really need to stop eating all that junk food before going to sleep!" She gently berated herself as she walked down the hallway to her bathroom.

She stopped at the landing however when she heard laughter floating up the stairs. She quietly padded down the staircase, and poked her head into the kitchen, and her eyes widened at the sight of her mother flirting with some strange guy and feeding him… ugh, were those… strawberries?!?!? 'Kill me now', she thought in disgust, gagging slightly as she hightailed it back to her room and quickly logged onto the computer, for the moment completely forgetting the shower.

She sent an e-mail off to her brother who lived in New Olympia with a bunch of friends.

**Hey Arch…**

**I'm just sending this to check up on you guys….. lol and to see if you have told her that you like her yet!**

**Hmmm…. well none of that matters, right now of course, cuz I'm sending out a mom S.O.S….. Arch, you gotta help me!!! She is feeding this dude strawberries gag in our kitchen! You can usually talk her out of any stupid thought she gets in her head, so please, you HAVE to come and help!!!!**

**Talk soon 'k?**

**Love Melly.**

Amelia re-read the e-mail and nodding in satisfaction, she clicked the 'send' button. She quickly logged off and hurried to shower, walking out of the house twenty minutes later, slamming the door behind her with enough force to cause their neighbours to glance out of their windows.

An older couple sitting on their front porch turned and glanced at the Winter's house, the old lady giving a delighted grin upon seeing the younger girl "Amelia, darling! How are you?" She queried making Amelia smile for the first time that morning.

"Good morning Mrs Alathea! I'm doing okay, how are you and Mr Alathea? The autumn treating you alright?" She asked slightly concerned for the older couple that lived next door to her family, and had become surrogate grandparents to Archie and herself.

"Oh pish-tosh child! Henry and I are doing fine! Why we almost thought that our young Archie was back, the way you slammed that door!" The older woman gave Amelia a smile as she flushed in guilt. "It would have done him proud!" She winked at Amelia.

Amelia just grinned in return to the comment, but before she could carry on the conversation, her friends pulled up in their car "Well, enjoy the rest of your morning Mrs Alathea, I'll see you after cheer practice okay?" She called as she climbed into the dark blue car that her friend drove.

"Enjoy your day dear! Behave yourself, you hear me?" Amelia gave a large grin as she heard the old lady call out the warning as they started off to school. She swivelled in her seat to wave good-bye, and then settled down in the passenger seat with a sigh, hoping the day would fly past pretty quick.

Archie grumbled for what seemed like the thousandth time that afternoon about the practise that Ares wanted them to do.

_Swimming._

He sighed and glared at his team mates as they happily splashed in the water, for all intents and purposes acting as if they were on the beach, instead of training. Although, he perked up slightly, as a certain redhead climbed out of the pool, her toned body dripping wet, the material of her bikini clinging to every curve and becoming more revelling than covering anything up.

He stared at the goddess as she approached him, her hips swaying in a subtly motion that she wouldn't have noticed, but which screamed of femininity and sex appeal. Archie groaned as his dream from a few weeks ago rose up and taunted him, just altered slightly this time.

_He envisioned the girl smiling sweetly, her eyes growing darker as she moved closer to him, her seductive smile curving her soft pink lips. And as she neared him she slowly reached back and undid the shoe-string lace that held the bikini to her body, letting the material slide gently off her revealing pert breasts that seemed to beg him to touch them and she smiled and opened her mouth "Archie…. Arch…" He couldn't make out what else she was saying as she neared him, her body trembling, crying out for his, and as he reached out…_

WHACK! Archie jumped a mile high as he was forcefully pulled out of his daydream by a stinging sensation on his arm. He blinked a couple of times before glaring down at the girl beside him "What the fuck was that for?" He demanded his cheeks heating up with lingered embarrassment at his male thoughts still racing through his mind.

"You were ignoring me!" The pretty little red head pouted for a second, but then an unholy grin lit her pixy features "C'mon Arch, you heard Ares, you have to swim!"

Archie glared down at his tormentor "Nuh-uh. No way, no how will any of you get me into the pool!" 'Not even you' He said that last part to himself, silently, not willing to have the sweet girl in front of him knowing what he felt. Not yet at least.

"Arch!" Jay, their leader, called from the pool "At the very least just dip your feet in!" Archie heaved a sigh, slowly making his way to the pool muttering all the while muttering about wanting to be anywhere but there.

The small redhead giggled in delight as she took his hand and led him to the corner of the pool. She gave him a saucy grin before diving in and splashing him slightly as she went. Archie spluttered but gave a grin as he wiped the water dripping off his face.

The others stopped what they had been doing and all watched as the violet haired boy carefully sat on the pools edge and dipped his feet into the water. They all grinned and cheered causing Archie to blush and give them all a death glare. Soon enough though they returned to splashing in the pool.

Neil, the pretty boy was laughing and splashing with the others, for once not really caring whether his hair looked good or not. Odie, their resident genius, was attempting to dunk Herry, the brawn of their little rag tag group. Archie sat and looked at these people whom he called friends, and whom he would entrust his life with, actually he HAD done so, on numerous occasions.

Archie's eyes skimmed over the occupants in the pool, grinning slightly as his gaze landed on the couple flirting silently, while pretending not to. Their leader Jay and the resident psychic Theresa were making googly eyes at one another, completely ignoring the antics of their other friends as they spoke to one another, talking too quietly for the others to hear what they were saying. Jay grinned and reached across, tugging gently at Theresa's hip length strawberry blonde hair, a naughty twinkle in his eye.

Theresa gave a gasping laugh and lunged at Jay, taking the young descendant of Jason by surprise, sending both of them under the water with the force of her launch, and causing the pretty redhead to shriek in surprise before they both went under.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, staring at the spot where the two had disappeared. Both came up spluttering and laughing, Jay holding Theresa in the protective circle of his arms.

The others all grinned and whistled as they saw the couple look deep into one another's eyes. Theresa and Jay both blushed and pulled away from each other, stammering out an apology and glaring at their friends all the while.

Archie grinned and shook his head at his best guy friend's actions, knowing how much Jay cared for Theresa, but also knowing how his friends mind worked, and how he thought that by not telling Theresa how he felt about her, he was doing her a favour and keeping her alive, for if Cronus found out about his feelings for her, then Cronus would use her to get at Jay.

Archie sighed as his gaze landed on the only other girl in their team, his heart contracting in pain as he thought of Cronus harming a single vibrant red hair on her head, and he knew that he would literally give his life up to protect that gorgeous female.

The rest of the afternoon was passed with giggles and chuckles, all enjoying the water, even Archie actually got into the water, coaxed by Atlanta, but he soon got out when Neil decided to splash him. Atlanta turned a murderous look on the blonde descendant of Narcissus, moving in to dunk the idiot and totally ruin his hair.

Neil gave a terrified scream, and both started a cat and mouse game, with Atlanta stalking him, and Neil's luck just barely letting him escape.

The others laughed at their friends antics for a while, but they soon stopped for Jay reminded them that they needed to get home and do their homework, which put the rest of the group in a bit of a bad mood.

Atlanta made a funny face behind his back and Archie snorted in laughter "Atlanta, it's not nice to pull tongues at people behind their backs" Jay sighed wearily, secretly smiling

"Yes _mom_!" She grumbled "Hey wait, how did you see that?" She peered at the Greek boy suspiciously trying to find out how he knew about her pulling the tongue

"I have eyes on the back of my head!" Jay swung around and gave a naughty smile, he loved teasing Atlanta, she was like a little sister to him.

Atlanta scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out at him again "You so do not!"

"Do too!" Jay countered, getting ready for a little fun with Atlanta

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do Not!"

"Do Too!!!"

"Nuh-uh!!!!"

"Yah-huh!!!"

"Children!!!!" Theresa scolded in a motherly voice, hiding the giggles that she was trying to suppress at their team mates childishness. "Enough! You're giving the rest of us a headache!!! If you don't behave the rest of the way home, you will go sit in your bedrooms in time out!!!!"

Jay and Atlanta gaped in horror at Theresa, for they had truly never thought that she would ever be like that.

"But Terrie!!!!" Atlanta whinged, a mischievous smile lighting her face as she got into the game that they were playing "HE started!!!!"

"I don't care who started it!" Archie jumped in, filling in the role of 'Father' "I will finish it!" He grinned evilly, 'Might as well try and get Jay a little jealous while I'm about this!' He thought and put an arm around Theresa's waist. He smirked at Jay, as their leader's eyes fell to Archie's hand, and where it was placed.

Theresa gave a delighted giggle and leaned into Archie, loving the game that they had started, it was so unusual to see Jay actually relax for once. Odie, Neil and Herry decided to spruce up the conversation by becoming other children.

"I want an ice-cream!" Herry whined, looking hopefully to Theresa, who laughed

"I want to go home, NOW!!!!" Neil stomped his foot for effect, causing the others to roll their eyes.

"Atlanta pulled my hair!!!!" Odie came up to Theresa, fake tears in his eyes

"Did not!"

"So did too!" Odie nodded his head emphatically

"DID NOT!!!!!" Atlanta shrieked

"Kids, why don't you go play, and let mommy and I have some 'grown up' time Hmmmm?" Archie was trying his hardest to not snort with laughter at Jay's face, the way it slowly grew blacker and blacker as Archie kept talking.

"Oooooo, they are gonna, make o-u-t!!!!!" Atlanta sang in a sing-song voice, feeling slightly strange at the idea of Archie and Theresa making out, but she pushed the feeling away, it was kinda like Theresa and Neil making out, she let that thought sink in, but that feeling didn't re-appear when she thought that 'Huh, strange' she shook her head, coming back into the conversation.

Archie had playfully winked at Atlanta, "Yup, mommy and I need some 'alone time'" And with that Archie turned to Theresa and gave her a sound kiss on the lips, causing her to giggle even harder. Jay snarled low in his throat as he saw Archie do that, and Herry had to hold the descendant of Jason back so that he wouldn't try and kill Archie.

The gang all finally pilled into Herry's truck laughing and joking with Archie and Theresa. The only two who kept quiet the whole way home were Atlanta and Jay, both too peeved with the others that Theresa and Archie had actually kissed that they felt they had nothing to say.

Archie sighed as Atlanta stalked to her bedroom door and slammed it shut, causing everything to shake. He had just been playing, and he had warned Theresa before he had kissed her to expect it, but he never knew that he would piss Atlanta off so royally. _'She wouldn't be cheesed off with you if she didn't like you'_ his inner thought popped up randomly.

He just ignored his thoughts, not willing to go down that road and end up killing a great friendship as well as never having Atlanta as a girlfriend. He walked down to his basement room, Odie heading off to a different door. He waved briefly, and shut his door behind him, heading straight for the computer and his e-mail.

'_PING'_ his e-mail message alert went off.

He grinned as he saw who it was from, but when he opened it, the smile slid off his face. He growled low in his throat at the thought of his baby sister dealing with this jerk by herself, but he couldn't leave the others to fend off Cronus alone to go deal with his mothers' errant love life, so he did the next best thing that he could do.

He sent his sister an e-mail.

Amelia sighed as she bounced into the kitchen, the heady rush of a great work out still humming gently through her veins. She grabbed a glass of apple juice, and then headed up to her room, intent on starting a project before the weekend, so that she could at least go out without having to worry if it was going to be completed in time.

She booted her computer up, and once it was on, she realised that she had an e-mail from her brother. She grinned, excited to read that he was going to come home and help her deal with everything. She opened the digital letter and started reading.

**Hey Melly……. ;P**

**Everything here is great, I love teasing my friend Jay, and I think that this time I did a bang up job of getting him to admit to his feelings for Theresa!!! (",) I'm evil……… worship the ground I walk on! PIMPL**

**Hey listen Mels, I can't make it there, not this time sweeting. There is just too much happening over on this side that there is no possible way I can leave…….. I'm sry, maybe next time????**

**Still haven't told her, thank you, but maybe soon, hmmm……. maybe.**

**If you wanna deal with mom, just talk to her, it's what I always did, and she seemed to listen! Get back to me with what's happening ok?**

**Love you millions, Arch XOXO**

Amelia rocked back in her seat, stunned and confused. Her brother wasn't going to come? But he always came when she called…….

The pretty brunette felt her world slowly crumble.

She was now truly on her own……..

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Ta-daaaa!!!!!!!

Soooo, what did you guys think? lol Sorry it's taken me for FOREVER to update this, but I have exams……. lmfao 'Nuff said!!!!!!! lol

I'll try update soon, but I can't promise…… Oh and that little scene where all of them were acting a little childish? Okay, lets get one thing straight, I don't have the talent to write an A&T romance, so I'll leave it to people who actually have the skill to pull off a descent fic about those two characters, like jennieman, or Winter-Rae……. lol

So this is strictly an A/A & J/T fic, 'k???? ;P Archie kissing Theresa was just to get Jay pissed, which BTW got him AND Atlanta upset!!!! So yay Fluff, here I come!!!! lol

lol 'K your slightly insane (And smut on the mind) author shall leave now…… lol

Remember to R&R!!!!!!!!

Love moi….. (",)


	3. Chapter 2

Hmmmm…….. Just Hmmmm lol I'm like super sorry this has taken me forever to put up, but well, I had no inclination to write it while I was studying… BUT I'M FINISHED!!!!!!!! Wooooo-Hoooooo! So now that I'm all super psyched for these holidays, I'll try update as soon as I can possibly manage m'k?

Thanks for being so patient… (",)

**WARNINGS:** Drinking, sex, the whole spiel….. If you wanna read all that is gonna be bad in this fic, go read the last chapter……

**DISCLAIMER:** Don't own….. Sigh do we have to repeatedly do this??? Also I do not own Akiera, she is all FanFiction authors' Winter-Rae's!!!! lol I just have control of her for the duration of this fic!!! ;P

Okay….. Here is the next chapter………

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"It's time" A certain authoritarian voice echoed through a spacious building

"But do we have to tell them?" An uncertain voice piped up, the voice holding remnants of being happy, but the serious situation had taken all the laughter out of the voice.

"Well, what choice do we have?" A soft voice interrupted, the owner of said voice glancing at the first speaker in unhappiness.

"They need to be informed now, for the problem has already escalated. He has found where the Key resides much sooner than we anticipated" A weary older voice, male, interrupted the conversation, causing silence to reign.

The first voice sighed "Go fetch the Oracle" She commanded imperiously.

They all left, leaving the first speaker alone. "Zeus willing they get to her in time" She whispered softly.

Amelia yawned, getting up from the couch, sighing as she realised that she still needed to go have a shower before she could climb into bed. She grumbled in irritation.

"Amelia, sweetie?" She backtracked as she heard her mom's voice.

"Yeah?" She poked her head into her mom's room grinning at Dean, her mom's boyfriend for the past few months. Her mother patted the bed, silently asking her to sit.

"Well, Dean and I…. We have something important to tell you…" Her mom broke off, seeming a little nervous, and she glanced to her boyfriend for reassurance and support. He gave her hand a squeeze.

"Honey, we have decided to get married!" Amelia's mom held her breath, waiting for the imminent explosion that was sure to follow the declaration, but nothing happened.

Mrs Winters opened her eyes and looked to her daughter, who sat on the bed, a slightly stunned look gracing her pretty features.

"Oh…. Ah…. Yeah no, Congratulations!" Amelia gave a slight smile and gave both her mother and soon-to-be step-father a hug. "Uh listen, I still have to go take a shower, and I have an early cheer meet, so g'night okay? Love you"

"Love you too sweetheart!" Her mother called out softly, feeling as if something was missing. "Oh Dean! We have to call Archie!!" Dean gave an indulgent smile and went to get the phone, sighing in happiness at his fiancée's delight.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

_Brrring! Brrrring!_

"ARCHIE!!!!!!! Phone!" Theresa yelled, her loud voice echoing off the old walls causing the inhabitants to all stop what they were doing.

"Thanks Drama Queen! I got it!!!!" Archie rolled his eyes at the girls' loud voice attracting all the attention. "Hello? Archie speaking"

"Archie! Sweetie! You didn't tell me that there were girls living in this dorm with you!" Archie cringed slightly as his mom's voice floated down the line, sounding reproachful.

"Hey Ma, yeah it kinda slipped my mind" He saw all his friends troop past the hallway phone, all beckoning him to hurry, "Hey mom, was there something important you wanted to tell me? Cuz I kinda actually need to go…"

His mom's laughter came through the phone "Dean, stop that! I'm just trying to talk to Archie!" Archie's ears pricked at 'Dean' wondering if this was that new guy that Amelia had told him about.

"MOM!" He barked out, a little on edge, causing the entire gang to stop dragging coats and scarves on and glance his way. "Focus, because I really need to go!"

"Oh, of course honey! Well what I wanted to tell you was that I'm getting married!" Archie literally froze, his whole body becoming slightly numb as his thought whirled through his head, like who was this guy? And when would he have met him? And how was he treating Amelia?

Archie silently groaned at the thought of his baby sister. This must be the guy that she had told him about in her e-mail all those months ago… but he hadn't been there to help her out. 'Stupid Archie!' He mentally smacked his palm to his forehead. Now he also knew why he and Amelia weren't chatting as much, for she didn't reply to his e-mails all that often anymore.

Atlanta came up to his side, shaking him out of his stupor and gave him a brief smile as he nodded in thanks. "Hey, that's great mom! Uh when do I meet this guy? When's the wedding?"

"Arch sweetie, one question at a time! Well, I was thinking that you could come home sometime in the next weekend or something like that, to meet Dean, but the wedding will only be in February!" She giggled, a sound that Archie hadn't heard his mother do since before his parents divorce, which meant that she was serious.

"Yeah, that's awesome mom; can I get back to you about next weekend though? I just have to check that there aren't any plans that I have already made…" Archie was fidgeting slightly as he tried to get his mother off the phone.

"Sure honey! Oh and when you get here you need to give me a list of which friends you would like to invite! I'm giving you and Amelia a limit of four friends and a partner of course! I wouldn't want the two of you to be bored with the old fogies that are going to be there!" His mother giggled again.

"'K mom, I really have to go, bye love you" Archie tried to rush his mother, but it was in futility

"Remember about next weekend darling! And you have to call me at the very least three days before, so that we can either book you a flight or not!" Archie sighed in exasperation.

"BYE mother!" And before his mom could say anything more he put the phone down, trying his hardest to place the receiver in the cradle gently and not slam it. He spun around his friends all watching him avidly.

"Congratulations, you're all invited to a wedding!" He muttered, suddenly realising how many his mother had stipulated he could bring, he sighed "Well, two of us will have to go together…" They all glanced at one another in confusion "… and I have to take a date" He said that last part softly, but not too softly that the others didn't hear what he said.

"Well…" Theresa gave a naughty grin "You can take Atlanta, there are two problems solved in one go, because then you get a partner, and that leaves us with only one extra person…" Theresa's voice trailed off as she snuck a quick glance to Jay, a small blush lighting her features.

Atlanta, wanting to get back at her friend gave an unholy grin. "Actually Terrie, the problem is easily solved after that! You and Jay go together!" She smirked, feeling the weighted approval of Archie's grin directed at her back.

Theresa's blush burned brighter, making her face feel as if there were a few hundred torches scalding her cheek bones.

They were all laughing and joking when they climbed into Herry's truck when Archie realised that he hadn't talked to his sister. He pulled his PMR out of his jacket pocket and swiftly dialled her number in, and waiting for her to pick the phone up. He thanked the person that had invented modern technology, and that he could be looking his sister right in the eyes when he spoke to her over the mobile phone.

"Hello?" Her voice drifted over the line, her sea blue eyes coming into focus a second later. "Archie!!" The others flinched slightly at her higher pitched voice. Archie just grinned, his eardrums used to the slightly higher decimal that his sister reached when she was excited. "Oh my gosh!!!! How are you? Where are you? What ya up to? How long…"

"Melly!" Archie laughed "Chill for a sec and take a deep breath in before you hyperventilate!!!" His sister grinned at him impishly over the phone, taking the calming breaths as he instructed. "Okay, now tell me, how's everything at school? And everyone? They okay?"

As Herry drove, the others listened to Archie's sisters' inconsequential babble, her soft sweet melodious voice filling the car. All grinned as she started to describe the antics of the cheer teams fundraiser, and how in the end she was chucked fully clothed into a freezing pool.

"Ooooo…. you will never guess what?? I met this new girl, her name is Akiera!" Her pretty blue eyes sparkled in happiness as she thought of her new friend. Archie thought, scrunching his face up trying to recall why the name seemed slightly familiar.

"Hey, Amelia, do I know her?" His sister's eyes grew slightly clouded and she looked a little troubled with how to answer that question.

"Uh, I dunno, but she's always been at the school, cuz I've noticed her a couple of times before her and I became friends, so yeah maybe…" He knew his sister was hedging at something, but couldn't understand why. He opened his mouth to say something, but on his sister's side of the phone a sudden disturbance came across.

His sister glanced, not to her door as he expected, but to the window, and turned slightly so that Archie couldn't see what had caught her interest. "Amelia? What was that?" He asked in a freakishly calm voice, knowing that if a guy was trying to sneak into her room, he would loose it.

Not that his little sister would be able to lie to him, she could never lie to him, not in a million years "Down Archie!" She scolded her voice holding a hint of a giggle "It's just my two cats coming in through the window."

"Oh, okay then. Hey, since when do we have cats?" He asked suspiciously, his gut instincts screaming to him that his sister was lying through her pretty little teeth, but he waved his concerns aside, knowing that he had been on the frontline of battling Cronus's goons for waaay too long.

Amelia rolled her blue eyes "Since I found them on our back porch, poor little things!" She sighed "They were half frozen to death! And they were just soo small! I think their mother abandoned them…" Her voice trailed off as she glanced back to where her window was situated. "Hey Arch? I kinda have to go… My little kitties are calling me to feed them!" She glanced back at the screen, her eyes sparkling with humour once again "Sheesh no one told me that having animals made you like a friggin' parent!"

"Yeah okay, well I just called to say that I'm most probably going to be coming down there this weekend, so yeah!" He waited for his sister's excited shrieks, but they didn't come. He glanced down at the PMR screen wondering what had gotten into her when her expression slowly blanked. "Amelia??"

"Huh?" His sister seemed to snap out of whatever had held her, and glanced back down to the screen. "Yeah, that's great Arch!" She gave a wholly fake smile, one Archie had dubbed years ago as her 'cheerleader smile'. Emotionless and cold. "Uuhhh listen, I REALLY have to go, and uh, feed the cats! Yeah, so take care; say 'hi' to everyone for me! Well not that any of them know me, so you know what? Just forget the 'hellos' I-uh I'll see ya soon 'k?" She was babbling nervously, now he knew that something was not right.

Archie frowned "Amelia?" His sister looked positively scared, and she seemed to be unconsciously backing away from the phone.

"I love ya, mwah, and all that stuff!" She looked ready to hang up, her expressive eyes darting again and again to the window.

"AMELIA!" He thundered "DO NOT hang up on me!" But too late, his sister turned her phone off "FUCK!!!" He slammed his fist into the back of Jay's headrest, earning a warning from their leader. The others remained oddly quiet as Archie vented his frustration in colourful languages that scorched the rest of the teams' ears.

"Archie, calm down" Atlanta said soothingly, unflinching when Archie turned his glaring, turbulent eyes on her. "She's fine! I'm sure she isn't in any trouble or anything"

Archie glared at her "That is not the point 'Lans, she is keeping something from me, and I want to know what! I swear to Zeus, if it's a guy, I will kill him, and then strangle her little neck!"

"Dude, overprotective much?" Neil piped up from next to Atlanta, causing Archie to growl softly in his throat, his right eye beginning to twitch

Odie, realising that if someone didn't do something soon Neil was going to be a black and blue blonde, so he quickly intervened for the vain boys sake. "Are you and your sister close Arch?"

"Yeah we are, well, we WERE. She has never kept anything from me, we have always been really close, ya know?" Archie looked saddened as he thought of his younger sister.

Odie nodded as Archie finished talking, knowing that Archie really loved that bond between the two of them, but before he could make a comment his PMR went off.

He flipped the screen open, only to have Hermes's worried face peering from the screen. "Odie, I need you and the rest of the gang to get here pronto! We have some urgent things to discuss with you" He looked even more hyper and nervous than what he usually was. Odie nodded and told Hermes that they would be there in five minutes.

Herry groaned as he quickly pulled a u-turn grumbling the whole way back to the school about missing out on the popcorn and the great movie, and all the hot girls. The rest were silent, wondering what the urgency was for.

They all piled out of the large truck and in a matter of minutes were all assembled in the janitors closet, the weird iridescent portal to the Gods haven shimmering in front of them. Archie shuddered slightly as he walked thorough the hazy portal, the feeling of walking through water…. UGH! So not his thing!

The teens all gathered in Hera's solarium, Jay, Theresa, Archie and Atlanta taking up one couch, while Neil, Herry and Odie occupied the other.

Archie, so consumed with his thoughts about his sister, didn't even realise that Hera had been talking, and that she had introduced a guest. "Ouch!!! What did you do that for?" He muttered glaring at Theresa who had just pinched him on the sensitive part of his ribs. The strawberry blonde didn't look intimidated whatsoever, and she glared straight back.

"Did you even notice that a creepy guy has entered the room?" She hissed ignoring the slightly huffy looks both Jay and Atlanta sent their way. Archie glanced up and lo and behold, the Oracle stood, looking even more like the crypt keepers keeper than ever before. Archie and Theresa both shuddered as one as the Oracle turned his sightless eyes on them, causing the reply that Archie was about to throw Theresa to wither in his throat.

"Very well, now that I have all of your attentions…" The Oracle threw another speaking glance to the uncomfortable looking teens. "…I have another prophesy that concerns you."

Everyone glanced at the other, a slow murmuring building up from the teens. Jay sat forward, his whole face and body language screaming 'Leader mode'. Theresa and Atlanta shared a troubling glance while Odie; Herry and Archie just sat waiting for the Oracle to finish what he had been saying. And Neil? Well, he was sitting there, muttering under his breath that the Oracle would look so much better if he had been using night cream for the past couple hundred years or so.

The Oracle started speaking. "The most powerful witch of all time has been reborn, having the powers of immortal gods in a human cover. This mortal shall be able to command the five elements; water, fire, air, lightning and earth. The Key shall open the veil between the realm of darkness, Caelereth, and earth, aiding the δαίμων _daimōn…" _The teens glanced at one another, confused by the ancient Greek language.

Hera, seeing the confused looks passing between her young charges quickly supplied "Daemons." helping to alleviate the confusion.

They looked relieved again, and Jay motioned for the old man to continue his prophesy "…to cross over to our part of the veil, and cause the destruction of earth. This human has only just started to notice the power that it wields, and will be drawn to more of its kind. But this mortal's power shall succeed any who can claim to have power, mortals and immortals alike. Only The Key shall have the power to send the δαίμων _daimōn_ back into Caelereth, but at a terrible cost to one's self."

There was absolute silence. All had been captivated by the Oracles soft voice, and now were reeling from his prophesy, not being able to quite follow the words.

Odie looked up thoughtfully "Oracle, will The Key be a power of good or evil?"

The Oracle crowed slightly and glanced at Hera "Quite a smart one, this one, isn't he?" Hera smiled in reply. "The Key is a force of good, for it has the privilege of keeping the evil at bay from humanity, but The Key only resurfaces every few hundred millennia, and people who wish to use The Key for evil can do so, for it is easily swayed"

"But then how can this Key thing…person…whatever! How can it be a force of good if it is easily swayed?" Archie piped up, feeling a bit dizzy by all the Oracles proclamations.

"Archie, in ancient times, The Key was always an immortal, and gods and deities were renowned for switching sides when a better offer came to them" Hera explained gently. "Immortals are a fickle race Warrior."

Before Archie could answer that remark, Jay butted in "Oracle, where do we find The Key? I mean surely it's going to be a lot harder than it was in the olden days?" All the Gods threw Jay a nasty look "Woops, no offense! I mean, there are, what? 8 billion people on the planet? How are we going to find this all powerful person?" Jay was always the one to stress about the minute details.

"That's where we come in Jay!" Hermes piped up, surprising everyone for they had all thought that he had left because he had been so silent and still, something Hermes NEVER did! "See we have been monitoring everywhere for a spike in any magical spheres, and a few months ago a very strong pull of magical happenings started in the California region, but since it was such a faint pull, we could do nothing about it, for it only showed us that it was in California, not the exact locations."

Hermes paused in his rant for a much needed breath of air, then plunged right back into his story "The past month and a half have provided better results, as the mages power has obviously been growing, and we have found that the powerful pull of magic is coming from somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area." Archie's head snapped up at Hermes revelation, his gut screaming to him again that something was up with Amelia, and that she was connected to all of this somehow.

At this point in the conversation Hera took over "We need you to go to San Francisco and try to locate the mage, before Cronus does" All glanced at one another, knowing that if Cronus ever got his hands on something as powerful as The Key, then the whole world would be doomed.

"Hera, I was actually wanting to talk to you…" Archie started hesitantly, not knowing how to actually ask the Goddess if he could go to his mother's house that weekend.

"Yes Archie, what is it?" Hera turned her all-knowing eyes on Archie, seeming to know what he was going to say before he even had a chance to blurt it all out.

"Well, you see, my mom is getting re-married and she asked me to go to San Francisco for the weekend. Well why don't you send me? We will be killing two birds with one stone, no offense, and that way we won't have to send the whole team up. I can look around and find out if anyone has seen anything unusual, or something like that." He felt terrified, wanting to believe that Amelia wasn't mixed up in any of this crazy business, but hid it well behind a wall of seeming sarcasm.

Hera stared at the Warrior sitting opposite her "Very well, that would be an excellent idea! You can leave during the evening on Thursday, and come back on the Sunday, which should give you enough time to find out something."

All stood up to leave but Hera's soft voice delayed them all and sent shivers of foreboding down the teens spines "Be warned Hero's, Cronus will stop at nothing to get The Key, for it is the surest way to defeat all of you and come by his rule over the earth once again very quickly."

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He hated flying.

Almost as much as he hated water, but not quite. Water still ranked up there as his most horrifying nightmare that he could ever be asked to endure, but Odie had ruined his love of flying for good.

He was on his way to San Fran and he was going to get down to the bottom of his sisters strange behavior, if it killed him. She had been slightly more enthusiastic when he had called to let their mom know that he was able to make it, and she was going to meet him at the airport.

Archie gratefully sighed as the plane touched down. He got off and collected his bags in record timing. He headed for the exit terminal; trying his hardest to spot his sisters tousled head in amongst all the others. Archie finally spotted her, head bent as she stood talking to an unknown person. He quickly called Atlanta to tell her that he had landed, but his voice faded as he reached his younger sister and the person that Amelia was talking to lifted her head.

Shocked steel blue eyes met slightly bemused blue-grey ones. Archie tried to suck air into his lungs, but nothing happened. He could hear Atlanta calling to him over the line, her voice getting a little worried when he didn't answer her, but he just couldn't. Not even if his life depended on it.

He felt as if he had just run into a solid brick wall. And the person standing in front of him was the sole reason why.

A slender body that was perpetually encased in dark clothing, the beauty before him now wore a pair of hip hugging black pants, and a black top with blood red stained patterns across the chest. The top dipped low enough for the purple haired Warrior to notice the black puzzle piece tattoo just above her heart. The sleeves of the top had artful rips in them showcasing another tattoo, a thorns and roses arm band, as did parts of the lower half, showing off a toned tummy that had a navel ring.

His eyes slowly traveled up, they passed the double earring holes in each ear, past the eyebrow ring and tragus ring to the soft blonde hair that was longer than when he had last seen her. She had also dyed the right side of her bangs to a black as dark as a starless night.

The girl in front of him grinned, giving him a glimpse of her tongue ring. "Archie"

Archie felt his whole world spin, Atlanta momentarily forgotten, he muttered one word…

"Akiera."

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Ooooo!!!!!!! I LOVE cliffies!!! Ducks as readers chuck whatever they are holding at me Huh, okay, so obviously you don't appreciate them as much as I do!!! (",)

Okay, so as some of you might know, I'm on holidays!!!!!!!!!!! yay me!!! (Sheesh I feel like London Tipton!!) So that means that I will try my hardest to update at the very least once a week, but please don't hold me to it, cuz I'm also kinda working!!! lol

Soooo, how does Archie know Akiera??? Well tune in next week to find out!!! ;P

I'm outta here!!!!!

Chat soon guys!

Love moi!!!!!! (",)


	4. Chapter 3

Hee hee hee!!! ;P I'm back!!... lol... And I was absolutely terrible last time and left you all with such a major cliffie!!!! Mwahahahahaaaa, (",) I'm also REALLY sorry that it's taken me forever to get this chapter up, but I just couldn't think on how to start it… lol... Wooops!!!!

**WARNING:** Mmmm, as I said in the last chapter if you wanna know about all the bad things, read the first two chapters….

**DISCLAIMER:** I think I should also do one of these, and have it for the whole session of this fic…. oh well, Do. Not. Own. Neither can I take credit for the birth of Akiera, even if I would love to!!! ...lol... She is the great work of a FanFiction author, Winter-Rae, I just have custody of her and what she does in this fic!!!! lol

Don't have too much to say (Shocking I know!!!) So enjoy guys!!!! (",)

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The bedroom had remained exactly the way he had left it when he moved. It looked neater and (slightly) less messy, but still, there were all his old things that he had felt did not deserve to be brought to a new life. His bedroom also looked as if he had only stepped out for a boarding session or something, for there were papers and notes scattered across the surface of his desk.

Archie sighed as he went to sit on his old bed, realising that no one looking into his room would realise that he had been gone from home for almost eight months now… But he had changed. Everything had all changed.

He groaned slightly as he remembered the ride home, his sister's sullen silence and Akiera's nervous sporadic bursts of chatter. Amelia had been truly horrified that both knew one another and hadn't allowed for an explanation from either before storming to the car and demanding to be taken home.

Archie had remembered Atlanta, but when he put the PMR back up to his ear, all he had heard was the dial tone, and when he tried to reach the fiery redhead again she had refused his calls. So he had called the next best person; telling Jay that he had had a safe flight, and asking him to apologise to Atlanta

Jay had assured Archie that he would talk to Atlanta, and now Archie sat, his bedroom awfully quiet because he didn't have a hyperactive redhead running through every two minutes and his sister had refused to even look at him once they had arrived home. Archie sighed softly again, thinking how he had to smooth things over with Amelia and how to react to his mothers fiancé and how to find the Key all in the space of an exceedingly short weekend.

Due to the jet lag (and a bit of a headache) Archie slowly drifted off, his sleep for the moment uninterrupted by bad dreams and other disturbing thoughts. He slowly awoke a couple of hours later to a soft purring in his ear. Archie lifted his head up and found that he was face to face with a furry little face with startling blue eyes staring almost accusingly at him.

Archie glared straight back at the cat "What the hell do you want?" He muttered to the cat. It swished its tail in annoyance that a mere MORTAL had spoken to it, and in such a manner! But it continued its silent staring match with Archie, not saying one word.

The Warrior just continued to glare at the cat, he finally sighed as he heaved himself off the bed. Archie heard a small disturbance coming from the hall and stuck his head out the doorway.

"Archie!" Amelia semi shrieked as he said hello to her. "Dear God in heaven! You almost gave me heart failure!" Her hand was still hovering above her throat, her heart pounding a mile-a-minute and feeling as if it would leap out her chest at any given time.

Archie just grinned in reply. Both started down to the kitchen for their dinner that they could almost taste for the smell wafting from the kitchen was so good.

"Oh hey Arch?" When she had her brother's attention Amelia smiled slightly "Have you seen my cat? He's white and very fluffy with a black tipped nose." Archie gave a slight grimace.

"Oh you mean the purring fluff ball that was in MY room giving me funny looks? Yeah I've seen him." Archie grumbled _Wish I could have shoved him out the window… buuuttt we won't tell Melly that… _"He was in my room this morning. He woke me up!" Archie whined slightly looking to his sister for some sympathy and getting none.

"Want some cheese with that ya big baby?" She smirked gently as she turned to head back upstairs to go get her cat.

Archie crumpled up his brow "Huh?" His oh-so-eloquent reply.

Amelia sighed and snorted with laughter "Cheese? You know you were whining?" When her brother still proceeded to look like a very confused (and slightly slow) monkey she rolled her eyes and elaborated "When you have wine, you usually eat cheese, so you were _whining_…" Amelia stressed the word "…and I wondered if you would like some cheese with it." Amelia shook her head as slow comprehension dawned on her older brother.

She laughed and quickly ran up the rest of the stairs. "Hey!" Archie snarled, his lack of any good comeback showing evidently when Amelia returned cradling the gigantic monstrosity that she called a cat, which was now perversely purring happily in her arms.

"Yang…" She cooed to the white cat "…meet uncle Archie. Arch, this is Yang, one of my babies." She grinned up expectantly at her brother who just stared in distaste at the furry creature.

The cat fixed his light blue eyes on Archie again, this time there seemed to be triumph in them and the furry animal seemed to be smirking at him.

Archie bared his teeth to the cat in what he hoped his sister would mistake as a smile and gritted his teeth against a snarl "Nice to meet you Yang" Amelia gave him a sunny smile and they continued on towards the kitchen.

Chaos reigned in their kitchen, but that was completely normal. Their mom couldn't cook without making a huge mess, nor without LOTS of noise accompanying her. Pots banged, the music was blaring, cats were meowing and the din that was in the kitchen seemed to reach an all new level when a tall distinguished man walked through the back door.

A chorus of "Dean!'s" could be heard and Archie realised that his sister also looked pleased to see his mother's boyfr… Fiancée, so he relaxed slightly. Dean walked up to him and introduced himself, treating Archie as if he were an adult and not just a teenager which had Dean go up, grudgingly, in Archie's books. They all looked back to Archie's mom and noticed how much food she was actually cooking.

"Uuhhhh….. mom????? Who are you cooking for? The United Nations?" Amelia couldn't keep a straight face as she said that, and her pealing giggles filled the kitchen as a slow rumble of male chuckles filtered in with her softer feminine laugh.

Amanda Winters huffed at her loved ones, secretly pleased that Archie and Dean were getting along so well and that Amelia had reverted to her happy self once again, if only for the moment. "I'll have you all know that the rest of the family are coming…" All three muttered and groaned in denial, but Archie's mom ignored them "…around as well, so please could you go neaten up, oh and kids? Set the table for about… Hmmmm…. twenty people" Archie and Amelia grumbled as they set about to do what they had been told to do.

By the time that everyone had arrived the house was spick and span, the table set and a lovely dinner set out for all the guests.

Laughter filtered through the house as more guests arrived and when Archie went to answer the door for like the fifth time he was pulled into a bone crunching hug. "I knew you would be back sooner or later" A soft old voice murmured in his ear.

Archie relaxed as he felt their elderly neighbour tighten her arms around him once again in an affectionate squeeze "Mrs Alathea! Oh wow I would have thought you would be dead by now!" Archie said a naughty twinkle coming into his eyes.

"And I thought that your mother would be bailing you out of the jail by now" The elderly lady grinned and winked at Archie, their old joke being a way they showed one another affection. Archie laughed and ushered the old married couple in as Mr Alathea shook hands with Archie and just laughed at their antics.

"You know, she was awful lonely without you here to spar with, and so she tried to vent her frustration out on me" The amusement in his eyes told Archie that the easy-going man had not risen to his wife's baiting.

Dinner got underway with lots of noise as everyone caught up with people that they hadn't seen in a while and all were content and happy at the end of the meal, that only congratulations and good wishes were sent the way of the soon-to-be bride and groom.

The evening ended on a high note, everyone leaving the Winters' household happy and content, everyone exclaiming over what a lovely evening they had had. A knock on the door brought the family out of their quiet, but happy musings as all helped Amanda Winters clear up the kitchen.

Mrs Winters walked over to the door and smiled once she had opened it and saw who it was. "Akiera honey! Amelia is just in the dining room, go on through!"

Akiera gave a pretty smile and walked smoothly through the opened door "Thanks Mrs Winters! So how was the dinner?" She asked sweetly scooping up a cat that had just waltzed in though the open window. "Hi Yin!" She cooed gently to the cat.

Archie pushed the swing door leading to the kitchen with his hip, his hands being currently occupied with dinner plates, and was jokingly saying something to Amelia when he turned and caught sight of Akiera. He stopped abruptly and Amelia almost crashed into him.

"Archie!!!" Amelia growled "Move! These dishes are REALLY…" Her voice faded as she saw Akiera, but instead of blowing up like Archie had tensed for, she gave a beaming smile "Ki-Ki!" She squealed happily and set the dishes on the counter going up to Akiera and engulfing her in a hug.

"Ki-Ki??" Archie muttered in disgust not really knowing how to handle his sister's new, and constant, mood swings so he just decided to go with it until she had explained.

Amelia turned to Archie, another cat cradled in her arms. "Archie this is my other baby Yin. Yin meet Archie." Amelia thrust the cat to her brother who had no choice in the matter but to scoop the cat up before his sister dropped it. Archie glared at the cat, waiting for the same hissed reaction that he had received from Yang.

Ppppprrrrrrrrrr. Archie looked down in surprise to find the black cat sitting contentedly in his arms, her neck stretched back for Archie to tickle under her chin. Archie sighed softly as he tickled the fickle animal thanking the Gods that at least one of the females in the house liked him. He studied the female cat that he now held, and whose affection he had readily been given. She was a small thing, not fluffy at all; instead she was sleek and all black with a really small white tip on the end of her tail. Her eyes were the most piercing green that Archie had ever seen and she seemed to be the complete opposite of her brother Yang.

"Hey mom?" Amelia looked up from a quiet conversation with Akiera "I'm going out with Akiera just now if that's okay" Her mom nodded and smiled her mind already in a totally different place than the kitchen.

Amelia beckoned for Akiera and Archie to follow her to her room, and once there she shut the door and faced both of them, giving her no-nonsense look that both knew oh-so-well. "Okay, I want an explanation about how you two know one another and why you thought to keep it from me."

Akiera opened her mouth to say something, but Archie beat her to it and shook his head at Amelia. "I thought you knew I knew Akiera. That day I called and you told me about her, you became all dodgy and wouldn't give me a straight answer when I commented that the name sounded familiar."

Amelia sighed softly before collapsing on her bed with her arms spread-eagled. "I thought you had heard all the rumours about her and were going to, like, forbid me to see her or something like that. But that's not the point; I want to know how you know each other"

Akiera shrugged slightly "Well when we were younger, we were best friends. But as we grew up and came into primary school we slowly changed. Archie became a bit cynical towards everyone because of what your dad had done, and me, well let's just say that I had found my calling in the darker aspects of life." Akiera smiled slightly.

"Anyway…" Archie continued "… by the time seventh grade had come and gone we were totally different people. We barely spoke and when we did it was never a pleasant exchange. We went off to separate high schools and we never really talked to one another since."

Amelia nodded her head slightly, appeased for the moment with the explanation that both had given her but she had a feeling that there was more to the story that either were letting on, but for the moment she let it slide. "Okay. Well Akiera and I are going to be going out, sooo you have to leave. NOW." Amelia pushed her brother out the door and closed it as he turned to ask where they were going. Archie huffed slightly as he turned to his own room a plan slowly forming in his head.

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An hour later a tall male figure made its way through the darkness of the evening to the glowing light in the distance, the rhythm and loud teenage voices of a party being audible for miles around. The male could feel the bass of the music throbbing through the soles of his feet even at a few paces away from the actual party. He grinned to himself, his excitement at getting back into his old partying ways all coming back in a flashed rush of adrenaline.

He crested the sandy rise and surveyed the mass of teens partying and drinking. The large bonfire raging in the middle of the partiers, the DJ spinning records and stirring the teenagers into a frenzy as he put on a popular club beat that had those who were just milling about start moving and grabbing partners to rub up against one another.

The purple haired teen slowly made his way down the sand dune loving the squish of cool sand in between his toes and the soft breeze that was playing off the silvery lit ocean waves. As he walked through the crowds a few people stopped to look at him, most recognising him after a few moments of contemplation. Suddenly Archie was swamped by his old friends who were overjoyed to see that their friend was back in town.

A couple of girls squealed in delight to see him again and more than a few tempted him to dance with them. Archie gave a brazen grin that his friends back in New Olympia would never have seen on his face. He shrugged his shoulders in a why-not gesture and proceeded to dance with a girl who wore little more than a bikini top and really short shorts.

The girl rubbed herself up against Archie "I've missed you so much Arch. How 'bout we ditch the party and go somewhere quieter?" She gently purred in his ear. Archie looked down into the gorgeous girl's face. He saw the wealth of dark hair that she had provocatively left down and was now teasingly playing with it as she swayed and ground herself up against Archie. He took note that she had beautiful brown eyes but, for the life of him, he just could not remember her name and the only face that kept flashing before his was Atlanta's.

"I'm sorry hon, but I actually came here for a slightly different reason." He said gently and quickly extricated himself from her groping hands and melted into the crowd leaving a pouting and slightly put out girl behind him.

Archie tacked through the mass of bodies on the dance floor, looking for two particular figures. He grinned at quiet a few people but didn't stop to catch up for he was on a mission. As he neared the edge of the party he still hadn't found his sister and Akiera and he grumbled under his breath in frustration. He looked down at his clothes, wondering what his team would think if they had to see him wearing what he had on.

Archie grimaced slightly, knowing that Theresa and Neil would be incredibly surprised and ecstatic at the dark blue jeans with artful faded patches over the knees and by the back pockets. Atlanta would raise her eyebrows and grin her silly grin and call him a dork if she ever saw his tight black wife beater top that he semi covered with a dark blue hoodie that had silver designs on the front and around the pockets.

He groaned silently, wishing to be back at the dorm, where he could just be normal old Archie, descendant of the great Achilles, instead of being back home where he was known as the infamous Archie Winters; playboy and trouble maker extraordinaire.

Archie shook off his wishful thinking and moved on.

After an hour of searching that had progressively taken him further from the main party he found both girls. They were sitting with a bunch of other people who were dressed in strange cloaks and who were chanting something under their breaths.

Archie's breath caught in his throat as the growing dread reared its ugly head as Akiera and Amelia started to chant softly, both girls' palms lighting up with a ball of fire, only to be put out by mini whirlwinds that were- again- contained to their palms.

When Akiera dropped with exhaustion, Amelia did something she had obviously never done before if the look on Akiera's face was anything to go by.

The younger girl started to chant in another, completely different language to the others. Her body was slowly levitated off the floor and encased in a bubble that first swirled around her with the musical tinkle of water; then fire suddenly erupted in amidst the water; gusts of wind same whooshing through next and finally leaves joined the first three elements in a soft rustling song. The protective bubble encasing Archie's sister glowed brightly with the four elemental colours and suddenly a sizzling sound reached them and a crack of lightning joined the four other elements, dancing along merrily about the bubble, scaring Akiera and a few of the other girls so badly that they screamed out in terror.

Amelia was slowly let down after the lightning had joined the others, the elements slowly fading and flickering, until she was gently set down on the ground. She turned to Akiera who looked shell shocked and gave a glorious smile "Hey Ki-Ki did you see that?!?" She squealed excitedly "I've NEVER done THAT before!" Amelia's big blue eyes shone in triumph as Akiera slowly came back to her senses and grinned right back, the females' excitement palpable as they bade goodbye to the others and made their way back to the party, talking rapidly the whole way back about how fast Amelia's powers were growing. They both passed within inches of Archie, but neither knew he was standing there, thanks a bit to Ares training and their magical high.

He felt ill. Literally.

Archie stumbled back against a tree that was behind him and quietly retched, his thoughts screaming at the unfairness of the fate, of the whole world really. The Oracle's prophesy danced in his mind…

"_The most powerful witch of all time has been reborn, having the powers of immortal gods in a human cover. This mortal shall be able to command the five elements; water, fire, air, lightning and earth. The Key shall open the veil between the realm of darkness, Caelereth, and earth…"_

No, no, no, No, NO!

"…_But this mortal's power shall succeed any who can claim to have power, mortals and immortals alike__. Only The Key shall have the power to send the δαίμων __daimōn back into Caelereth, but at a terrible cost to one's self…"_

Not Amelia. Not his sweet baby sister Amelia…

As much as the Warrior tried to deny it, he just could not ignore the truth staring him blatantly in the face.

"_This human has only just started to notice the power that it wields, and will be drawn to more of its kind." _

For his sister, his Amelia, was the one. The one that Cronus was searching for, the one he had been sent home to find…

The Key…

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DUM DUM DUUUUHHHHHH…………. hee hee hee... Okay guys so we know now that Akiera and Amelia are witches (yay) anywhoooo…..

If this chapter seems 'off' in any way please forgive little ole' me cuz I was having a major writer's bloke with this last chapter and struggled quite a bit to get it going (",)

Okay I promise that you will find out more about Archie and Akiera's relationship further into the story, but right now I think I'll just leave it at that!!!!

Anywhoo, you know the drill! ;P

Thanks for reading

Love Me!!! (",)


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